Favre to hang it up?

Profootballtalk is reporting that the Packers offered Favre 3 teams to be traded to and Favre declined each one. So, according to their “source”, Favre appears to be letting go now and headed toward real retirement.

It’s interesting – a coworker (a very knowledgeable female Packer fan by the way – something I think is unique and great about the Packers: the fact that they have such a large female fan base but better still, that it is an incredibly knowledgeable female fan base) and I were talking the other day and she pointed out that she hasn’t been convinced by Favre’s expressions of his desire to return to football. Me neither. She pointed out that even when Greta asked him point blank if he were ready to return 100%, he gave a somewhat evasive answer – though he eventually did say yes.

I agree with her. Throughout all of this, it has seemed as though Favre maybe just had a point to make. I told my coworker that I almost wonder if Favre was so irritated with Ted Thompson not just because he did feel pressure from TT to hang it up but also because of the other issues apparently between them, that Favre felt the need to make their conflict public. While doing this seemed uncharacteristic of Favre (and I would guess he’s regretting that decision as it has backfired), I do wonder if that is part of what happened here. I’ll go so far as to say I don’t think he was ever really convinced he wanted to comeback himself, and I think Packers management sniffed that out starting months ago.

As profootballtalk points out, I am curious to see what might happen should Rodgers get injured or another prominent team (like the Cowboys or New Orleans) have a major QB injury and come calling for Favre’s services. I could see if it were a season-ending injury, a team like the Cowboys might make a ridiculous offer that would leave TT with little choice. But I can also see Favre just retiring now. We’ll see.

10 Responses to “Favre to hang it up?”

Yeah, we girls have to bone up on our team if we expect to contribute in conversations on this blog and over at CheeseheadTV. I agree with you and your coworker – part of me believes that Favre wasn’t prepared for the Packers to call his bluff. I’m still concerned about the Mariucci comments regarding the Vikings and Bears, but I have to think that the Packers will prevent an unconditional release, especially to another NFC North team. From what I understand, either Favre goes where they let him in a trade, he shows up to GB for training camp and starts a starting-QB-scuffle, or he goes back home. I mean, Ted’s not foolish enough to agree to what Mooch is talking about, is he?

It wouldn’t surprise me if Favre decided to just give it up. Especially if the Viking tampering accusations are true. I guess I can see Favre starting to feel that itch and the Vikings coming and dangling a Super Bowl in front of him as well as promising him the stars and the moon then I can see that causing him to come back. Especially if they played on any latent resentment towards Ted Thompson. Now that the Vikings are out of the question due to the tampering charge and he’s burned all his bridges with the Packers, staying retired is probably his best option.

Until Favre and Cook file their intent with the commissioner, the beat goes on. As QB’s go down in pre-season and into the 2008 season, teams will be calling. This Soap Opera will continue.

The bad blood between Favre and Thompson is stronger than I thought. This issue is personal and nasty. I think Favre will drag this out as long as possible. Mariuci’s insight says a lot. If that is true, Favre is more interested in jamming it to Thompson than playing for a genuine desire to play the game.

In an interview with Aaron Rogers (Sporting News), He said this: “I am excited about doing things the way I want them. We’ve spent a lot of time together doing team functions, a lot of time at my house this off season. and I think we’ve definetly gotten closer as a team. I don’t think we had that as much last year. I don’t ever want guys to feel like they can’t talk to me or approach me. We’re doing this together. I’m always open to suggestions. I think my teammates would all say I’m very approachable and pretty personable as well.”

This tells me that the team is not as unified as they appeared last year. I’m affraid now that what ever happns with Favre there will be a segment of the team unhappy.

interesting quote Ron – I think Rodgers’ emphasis on team-building is a point of pride for him. I also think it’s a difference he likes to highlight between he and Favre and one ultimately, I think will be good for the team assuming he’s the guy in 2008. My guess is that even if there end up being a few players who may not like TT to begin with and find themselves siding with Favre, most of the players will eventually rally around Rodgers by the time the season starts.

Does Favre really want to come back and play? Complaining about how his GM didn’t do enough to make him happy surely didn’t endear him to any potential trade partners.

And given Favre’s annual “maybe I’ll retire” flirtation, I can’t blame TT for finally just saying, “No, you can’t have until training camp to decide — retire if you want, play if you want, but decide now”. Are there any teams that would want to take on this drama?

Given his age and contract status, the number of teams that would be interested in trading for Favre has to be pretty limited. And given the way his actions have revealed him to be something of a primadonna, I wonder if there are any at all (possibly excepting teams (like, say, the Falcons) desparate for any kind of offensive spark).

There’s no question in my mind that Favre could’ve had his starting job back if he had wanted it enough to compete with Rodgers for it, or even sit on the bench until Rodgers got hurt, or just had a terrible game. But to do that, he’d have to drop the whole “my way or the highway” attitude.

Examining specifically the deterioration or non-existent relationship between Favre and Thompson, has anyone else heard that TT is categorically a jerk? Any links? One would have to think that there would be rumblings emanating from the locker room, anonymously of course, that TT is some sort of tyrant or colossal jerk. I have not heard so. I’ve heard he’s cold and distant and not very personable, but if it doesn’t rub everyone the wrong way, why just Favre?

I can only assume it comes down to Mike Sherman acquiesced more to Favre’s wants as it declined ultimately to a 4-12 laugher of a team. TT put a stop to it, fired Sherman even over Favre’s “If he goes I go threat”. He made is own decisions, perhaps with some consulting with Favre, perhaps not. Then the whole Randy Moss thing blowing up into Favre’s “Trade Me” and his dead-eyed pressers last year. Favre had no doubts in his mind that the Packers were going to be bad and he acted like it. Even with a disbelieving QB the team had a 13-3 record. TT must have made some decent decisions. Did Favre somehow compute this himself and bury his grudges, maybe going so far as to admit he just might have been wrong and getting himself a new attitdue? No, he takes his heat pads and his INT’s into retirement and lays the blame on everyone else.

Favre has been a prima donna these last three years. It is amazing that he has as much pride for himself given the lack of success the Packers have had over the last decade at winning when it counted, and how much he has contributed to that failure. I always held out hope that MAYBE some sort of second triad would be put together to rival the Wolf-Holmgren-Favre era. One had hope that last year wasn’t an outlier and that the Thompson-McCarthy-Favre connection might just finally send Favre out a winner and maintain that groove into a Thompson-McCarthy-Rodgers era. But Favre canned all that because it was ultimately all about him. HE won us that Superbowl eleven years ago. HE had the mental capacity to be both GM and on-field general with a healthy input into gameplanning at the coaching level, to get the Packers to the promised land. He HAS to believe this or he wouldn’t be acting like he has for the last four months and killing our chances of success. His grudge is that Thompson didn’t do it his way even though the way it was done was perfectly suitable. Favre’s ego took a hit and he’d rather the whole Packer organization suffer instead of winning another Superbowl someone else’s way. That’s all I can see, unless, again, TT was categorically a jerk of epic proportions and Favre is eminently in the right. Maybe it seems naive to see it so black and white but if TT is simply doing his job as best he can and not feeling the need to buff Favre’s shillelagh every moment, then it has to be on Favre. Favre cannot think he is the organization instead simply a part of it. The only time Favre had success is when he did work within a system – way back in the mid-90’s

Everyone is wrong. There is nothing preventing the Packers from allowing him to comeback and just sticking his butt on the bench. He may be able to force his way back into the league but he can’t make anyone put him in a game.

Joe- I totally agree, I apaologize if my sarcasim wasn’t evident. I suspect that the Favre camp spun all of these guys/media outlets and they were happy to be spun and report his wishes as if they were facts. The organization seems to be less vocal about the situation for the reasons you state. They *know* they are in the drivers seat and don’t feel the need to convince anyone of it. Favre has virtually no control and hence the efforts to make it appear that does.

Re: 7, Longwell, Walker, Wahle, and Sharper all expressed displeasure with the way Thompson handled their departures from the Packers. While I don’t necessarily disagree with the decisions to let these players go from a football standpoint, there does seem to be something to the idea that Thompson has some difficulties in his inter-personal relationships with players, beyond that which Favre has described.